MST3K 811 - Parts: The Clonus Horror
The Movie Synopsis A group of young people with the "fitness of golf pros" is raised in an isolated compound that resembles a community college. Grown from the cloned cells of upper class twits, they are lobotomized (most of them), indoctrinated, drilled, monitored and guarded at all times. Darren Stevens oversees their care, assisted by one of the Super Mario brothers. Each clone is fed a lot of hooey about one day "going to America" which is portrayed as a utopia, but really means they are killed and frozen to provide spare organs. Peter Graves is a presidential candidate who is in on the secret. One of the unlobotomized ones begins to suspect something; he escapes and seeks help in the outside world, Will he succeed in exposing this horrible secret? Information ''The Island'' Controversy The film's director, Robert S. Fiveson, has accused the 2005 Michael Bay movie The Island of being a Clonus ripoff, and along with producer Myrl Schreibman, eventually sued for plagiarism. He ended up settling out of court for an undisclosed amount. http://www.agonybooth.com/parts/island.asp http://tom-servo.home.mindspring.com/special-events_interview_fiveson-schreibman.html. The Episode Host Segments Prologue: Mike has decided to grow a mustache. The Bots are supportive. Initially. Segment One: True to form, the Bots are less supportive of Mike's choice to shave off his mustache. Meanwhile down on the planet, the camping Mads are awoken by the arrival of a trio of young Space Children who've run away from their parents. Segment Two: The Mads are forced to play with the space children, causing various degrees of mental and physical pain for all involved. Segment Three: At the end of her rope, Pearl convinces Mike and the Bots to put on a public TV style kids program to distract the kids. Aiming nice and low at first, but as they get fancy, they lose their audience. Segment Four: Drawing from their own lives, Pearl, Bobo and Observer each give the space children "that" talk. Closing (Segment Five): Crow has gotten a nose job and Mike can't look away, while down on the planet the Mads have just gotten the space children to the sleep. The soothing poem Tom has written is perfect to keep them that way, but it's musical accompaniment is not. Stinger: "Sure!" Quotes & References Running Jokes *References to Biography Featured actor Peter Graves was the host of the A&E television series Biography, which is exactly what it sounds like. At the time the episode was made, this reference was contemporary, but as of this writing (2007), Biography-as-it-was is being rapidly forgotten. *There are a number of references to the female protagonist's "truncated nose"; at one point, Mike makes a comment that she fell asleep on a "dermabrasion" wheel. Dermabrasion is a process in which skin is scraped and resurfaced (sometimes with a wire brush) to smooth its appearance and texture. *The kids in the host segments are a reference to the Star Trek episode "And the Children Shall Lead". *The Spanish children's television show that the SOL crew puts on is NOT related to Dora the Explorer or spin-off Spanish children's shows, as those shows started after MST3K went off the air. The joke gains new meaning in this day and age. Riffs *''"TODAY!"'' Taken from the chorus of the Neil Diamond song "America". *''"KOYAANISQATSI..." Directly references the Philip Glass tracks "Prophecies" and "Koyaanisqatsi" from the documentary Koyaanisqatsi. *"Parts: The Village People Horror!" "The Longtime Companion Olympics!" "Winner of the International Jeffrey Games!" "Terrance McNally holds weird auditions!" "Clonus: The Boys in the Band Horror!"'' All are references to gay icons: the disco group The Village People, the film Longtime Companion, the film Jeffrey, noted gay author Terrence McNally, and the play/film The Boys in the Band. *''"I got into Hamburger U.!"'' Hamburger U. is fast-food giant McDonald's training school. *''"Oh, I have the vapors!"'' A reference to Scarlett O'Hara, the female protagonist of Margaret Mitchell's 1936 novel, Gone with the Wind. *''"Oh, that was a good loose meat sandwich!"'' A type of Sloppy Joe sandwich originated in Iowa made famous by Roseanne Barr who started a specialty restaurant based on the sandwich, and even promoted it on her TV show Roseanne. *''"His feet are making a Don Martin noise." "Splot, splot!"'' Don Martin was a MAD magazine cartoonist known for creating characters with over sized feet that made strange noises when walking. *As the clone escapes, the bots hum the "underground" music from the NES game Super Mario Bros.. *''"So, he's running through fields of wheat." "Wheat."'' A reference to Woody Allen's Love and Death. *''"Watch, he'll run into Chauncey Gardiner coming the other way."'' Chauncey Gardiner was an idiot played by Peter Sellers in Being There. *''"So we aren't at war with Eurasia?"'' An allusion to George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four. *''"It's the James Galway porn theater!"'' James Galway is an Irish classical musician. *''"Soundtrack by Yngwie Malmsteen."'' Yngwie Malmsteen is a guitarist known for his extremely fast guitar riffs. *''"Monty will take Messina, while I sweep in from the North!"'' A loosely paraphrased line inspired by Patton. *''"No one's guarding my father!"'' Said by Al Pacino in The Godfather. *''"Are you one of them preverts?"'' Keenan Wynn, who plays the reporter in this film, said this line as Colonel Bat Guano in Doctor Strangelove. *''"Parts is parts!"'' A short-lived advertising slogan used by the Wendy's fast-food chain in the early '80s. *''Yeah, saw the Dead there, saw the Dead there..."'' Fans of the American rock band :Grateful Dead, called "Deadheads", often followed the band from city to city and attended dozens of their concerts. *''"And, he bumps right into Bruce Willis."'' In the movie Die Hard , Bruce Willis' character spent a lot of time climbing around in elevator shafts. *Mike's speech to Pearl in the third host segment ("There is nothing you can possess which I cannot take away") is taken verbatim from Raiders of the Lost Ark, spoken by Belloq (Paul Freeman). *''"The Ravenite Social Club."'' The Ravenite Social Club was a club in New York City used by the Gambino crime family. *''"It's the all white version of Salaam Bombay!"'' Salaam Bombay! was a 1988 Hindi film portraying homeless children in the streets of Mumbai. *''"Got to get to the sculpture garden!"'' The footbridge in this shot looks identical to the footbridge over Interstate 94, which leads to the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. Video Release *Commerically released on DVD by Rhino in October 2007 as part of The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection: Volume 12, a 4-DVD set with The Rebel Set, Secret Agent Super Dragon, and The Starfighters. *The DVD features a trailer for the original film as well as an interview with director Robert Fiveson specifically taped for the release, discussing the making and genesis of the film as well as The Island controversy and the MST3K take on his film. He even credits the MST3K fans interest and knowledge of Clonus with helping his case. Category:MST3K Episodes Category:Season 8 Category:Dystopian Film Category:70s Movie